LAS VEGAS ? Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said he urged Oscar De La Hoya to see a sports psychologist when he was in De La Hoya?s corner before the loss to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. De La Hoya refused. So, now, Roach is trying to do what a psychologist might have done: Get into De La Hoya?s head. ?Of course,?? said Roach, who has been playing the psyche game for weeks in an apparent attempt to force De La Hoya into a critical mental misstep Saturday night at the MGM Grand. It doesn?t matter if De La Hoya?s towering advantages are real or just numbers on a tale of the tape. Roach is campaigning to offset them with what he says is De La Hoya?s biggest weakness. ?It?s not physical,?? said Roach, who trained De La Hoya for only the narrow Mayweather loss in May, 2007. ?Oscar works hard. But his mental side is weak.?? De La Hoya?s history of tiring in late rounds is more mental than metabolic, Roach says. ?Definitely,?? said Roach, who said he wanted De La Hoya to hire a psychologist to help him work through and beyond some of the habits that he says have led not his other losses. ?I saw it for the first time in the dressing room before Mayweather. He is so tight, tight as a drum, early in a fight. That drains him, just drains him, of a lot of energy.? But De La Hoya apparently didn?t take like Roach?s psychology then. Maybe, he saw them as mind games. Let somebody else play them. Roach has played and played, in part because he is angry at De La Hoya. ?He didn?t blame me for Floyd Mayweather until long after the loss,?? Roach said. ?That pissed me off a little.?? There?s more than one source for Roach?s motivation. There?s also rival trainer Nacho Beristain, who has moved into De La Hoya?s corner for Saturday night?s fight. On HBOs 24/7 documentary, Roach calls Beristain ?an asshole.? But that?s not the whole story, Roach said Thursday during interviews at a roundtable adjacent to one where Beristain also answered questions. Beristain, Roach said, insulted him with a slur after Pacquiao?s controversial victory over the Beristain-trained Juan Manuel Marquez in their rematch of a draw. When Roach put his him arm around him in a consoling gesture after Pacquiao?s victory was announced, Roach said Bersitain questioned his sexuality. Beristain, who said he didn?t see any difference in Pacquiao in either of the two fights with Marquez, apologized the other day. But clearly there is some bad blood, tension, boiling beneath the surface of a much-hyped fight. ?When we win the fight, I?ll be so freaking happy,?? said Roach, who added that he expected to be friends with De La Hoya someday. But not Saturday.
